Famous Monsters of Filmland 001 1958 Warren Publishing

8/13/2019 Famous Monsters of Filmland 001 1958 Warren Publishing

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B B PROUDLY PRESENFAMOUS

NUMBER 1

OF FILMLAND1958

COLIECTOR'S EDITIONtjl j

riffirifrinrmii'fiT?niiT r i i rirtTfiniign


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The Behind-the-Scene

Story of Hollywood's

House of Horrors

SEE-THE 10 MOST FRIGHTENING

FACES EVER FUMED

SEE-THE MOST FEARSOMEMONSTERS EVER CREATED

SEE-THE SCREEN'S CLASSIC j

HORROR PHOTOS 1

INTERVIEWS AND ARTICLES ON THEGUYS AND GAIS BEHIND THE GHOWS

TV'S MONSTER PARADi

COLLECTOR'S EDITION


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welcomemonster|B YOU'RE STUCK

^H The stuff this magazine is printed^H ^^^^^ ^^ ^^_ ^^^^k ^M^ ^tfj^^ ' ^^^'^^ looks so much like ordinary^H ^^^^^k ^^^ ^^V ^^l^^k ^Hfl^^^^^ printer's ink, is actually^1 ^^^H ^B ^m ^^^H ^^P ^^^1 YOU CANNOT THIS MAG

^1 ^H ^H ^H^V ^Hm ^H ^^^^^ Try as you may to^H ^H ^H ^H^H ^B^^B ^H ^H^^l impossible: like a zombie, you hav^H ^^^^H ^^^B ^^^^H ^H ^^^^H no your For^H ^H^^V ^^H ^^^^V ^H ^H^B mas:azine bears the fatal^H ^^^^^ ^^B ^^^^^ ^H ^^^^^ of beauty for the beast, of monsters

for maidens fair and monster-makersunfair.

Did your last date call you a monster? Do your friends think you'rehorrible? On Halloween do they say take off your mask, Frankensteinwhen you're not wearing a mask?

Wives: do you consider your husband a Jekyll & Hyde?Husbands: do you sometimes wish you were the Invisible Man?

EVERYBODY: do you know all thefaces

ofFrankenstein, about L

Chaney's 150 pictures, how many quarts of blood Bela Lugosi drankDRACULA, and 10,000 other amazing facts about fantastic monsters?

For every tick there's a tock. If you want to know what makes monsterstick, why they're such a click and even why YOU get such a kick outtiem, you've come to the right magazine.

That isn't all. With the purchase of this book you are entitled to be thfirst on your block to introduce the great new saying that will soon besweeping the country. When your beast friend starts giving you a bad timor a big lip about something you just said or did, take my tip: just shrugyour head nonchalantly and stop him cold in his cracks with, Well, that'show tiie monster mumbles.

Take it from the man who owns one.

Yours gruely,THE EDITORS


5/66A FACE THAT ONLY A MONSTER COULD LOVE -for a starring rore in pictures. Then she got 1

starlet Wando BurbourI picture called APE GtRL but nobody


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M Jfe FAMOUS - _

* ^ OF FILMI-ANDIBfiii^w^l

pbliih*r

JAMES WARRENdltor

REST J. AUKERMAN

art dire


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medicinemen

prefer

monstermen

Doctor, I feel run down.The doctor looked at his patient

and could easily understand why.The biood dripping on the floor, thetire marks across his face, weresymptoms that told the doctor thatthe man had just been hit by a twoton truck.

Pull yourself together, go out andsee a good horror movie, the doctorprescribed. It will make a new manof you.

Fantastic? Improbable? Who cansay. The day may not be so far dis-tant when vitamins will be replacedby vita- monsters, anti-histamines byhaunty-histamines, and the commonaspirin tablet by a chill-pill calledGASPirin.

Un-tranquilizers Chilltowns in-stead of Miltowns.

That emotional health and mentalstability may be improved by subject-ing oneself to safe shocks is the con-clusion shared by a number of psy-.chiatrists and anthropologists.Makers of monster movies need makeno apology for the quivers they sendcoursing up and down spines. Theremay be more therapy in a theramin-filled fright-film than meets the eyeor the ear.

Long before horror movies themonsters were among us. In an-cient Greek dramas it would be dif-ficult not to note at once that ghostsand ghastly events were part andparcel of many a play.


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-r^ Among the Mutants thttre is o prov-rb, Two heads are better thannone, but looking at Hils mutant'sface lift job, one wonders if he hadIt lifted high enough. From WORLWITHOUT END.


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Tr' ^.

M#sr /,

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A rar* photo of Boris Karioff withthe skftleten in his closet. This is un-usual because Karioff usually hauntshis own closet.

a vampire

a daykeeps the

doctor awayThe gri'eat philosopher Aristotle defined the

basic function of drama as filling an audi-ence with terror so as to cleanse its emo-tions.

Shakespeare frequently applied Aristotle'spurgring formula: one has but to think ofhis apparitions, witches, enraged elementsof nature, etc., as examples.

Who can say but what the Bard of Avaldnmight not have been writing Frankensteinmovies, were he alive today (Shades ofShockspeare )

In Bali an annual 3-day festival tradition-ally includes as its main attraction a playincorporating the most terrifying monstersand demons contained in the Balinese myth-ology. So great does the excitement becomethat many of the participants in the festivalpass out or enter a trance-like state. Whenthey come to, they report that they feel atease and fully refreshed. Significant fact:on the island of Bali there are no nervousbreakdowns or ulcers.

Interest in horror flourished in the Ro-mantic era. Faust was the most popularshock show in the early 1800's, with thedevil up to his usual deviltry.

And so we move through Edgar Allan Poeand other masters of the macabre story toliving story-tellers who now employ thewide-screen of the movie theater to tell theirtales of terror.

Audiences see themselves reflected in filmmonsters, reveals Dr. Ernest Dichter, writ-ing in a recent issue of a TV trade magazine.Dr. Dichter, who is president of the Institutefor Motivational Research, goes on to ask, When one considers the number of monstersstalking our TV screens today, and the num-bers of children and adults who watch withfascination their activities, one is compelledto wonder, what is the appeal of these hor-rors?

The Ph.D. answers his own question by ex-plaining the attraction of the reoulsive asinterest in forces out of control. The originsof power and the evils that result from its

with the problems of the pinvcr of knowledge,creation, resurrection, power for its ownsake the uses and abuses of power.

Dr. Grace Schlue recently stated to a largetelevision audience, Everyone harbors ahost of terrifying images in his subconsciousmind, images that take part in his mentaldrama of anxiety. The easiest and most ap-pealing method of getting rid of your per-sonal phantoms is to witness a spine-tinglingdrama.

In other words the public re-enactmentof private nightmares exercises a kind ofvideo-therapy on its audiences

How like myself that monster really is,is what the average individual is thinking,reveals Dr. Dichter. Adding: There, but forthe grace of God, go I.

Horror films f z-equently leave one with thefeeling of relief that things could be worsethan they are in actual life. A tough teacher,a bullying boss, an impossible spouse maybecome bearable by comparison with themonster in the movie.

They used to say, An apple a day keepsthe doctor away.

A monster a day could turn your hair


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C05TELL0 MEET DR. JEKYLt AND MR. HYDE.

':^'^


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Karloff calls it folklore,

ollywood calls it big boxoffice

ther way, the horror films boast

glorious history of entertainment

OTEP with lis through the itthe waiting woiiil of thinj;s weird. Into the celhitoifl land of roprnt'ilts, where shadows like sn

L*alm of ilrvjims take cm unc;.low th.'hlun.l-rcdsiini thai n

Your (lesttnation is Horror House, rightnext (looi- to Mystery Mansion, located at thebusy intei-si'ction of Scream Street andISeastman IJlvd. The fiendly cop on the cor-ner? Yes, that's Frankenstein.

IJoys and kIi'Is. moms and pops, grand-dads and grandmas, let's face it: a little hoi-

lor now an


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Or, put another way: everybody loves amonster. Well, perhaps not everybody; may-be not the hapless heroine who's being pur-sued, or the hero who's liable to get hurt ina struggle, or the anonymous little man whohas to clean up the mess in the laboratoryor the castle or the city after the demon hasdone his dirty work; but nearly everybody.

Especially watchers. People (like you) notdirectly involved. Folks who can sit backin the safety of their wide-screen movie

house, parked car at the drive-in theator comfort of their own living room inof TV, and watch other folks be frighteneby the creatures that come from out ofpast, from out of folklore, and fromof the future, from outer space.

This, then is a kind of history of hofilms. So fasten your safety belts, tautennerves, steel yourself (like Robby the Roand

Here we go into the wild grue yonder

Ion chaneyhad a million

of em Ithe mon of a thousand faces

LoN CHANEY, in the words of JiDurante, had a million of 'em Enddifferent characterizations. From 19131930 he appeared in the fantastic total

approximately 150 films In these his app

ance varied so widely that no one everwhat he was going to look like next, and

popular saying ofthe time became,

out Don't step on it it may beChaney

WHILE PARIS SLEEPS presentedas a mad scientist.

LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT castin the role of a human vampire with ashock of white hair, a pair of bulging

and a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth.cape and top hat completed the effect.

THE MIRACLE MAN made Chaneymous over night in his contorted role asthe fake cripple, whose paralyzed limbs

miraculously curedJn the climax of

picture.

THE PENALTY presented Chaneyout any legs at all, this effect being painfucreated by his padding his knees with leaand walking on them. For this purposehad a harness specially constructed tostrict his legs, which were bent up behim.

THE ROAD TO MANDALAY cast Chas a semi-blind man. He achieved thisby covering one eyeball with a coatingwhite collodion to give the impression

TREASURE ISLAND saw himagain, this time as the pirate in Robert


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The photo worth 10,000 words: TH

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Patrons

RMniini


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You tall us. Lon Chansy, but does anyono recognize from whL He oppears to be portraying a kind of ape-man.

A BLIND BARGAIN gave two Chaneysfor the price of one : mad scientist and apemati.

THE MONSTER saw him once agrain castas a niad scientist.

THE UNHOLY THREE demonstrated hisversatility, for within the same picture heplayed the dual role of a side-show ventrilo-quist and an old woman.

MR. WU, OUTSIDE THE LAW and BITSOF LIFE were all Oriental roles.

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME,one of his two top characterizations, wasone of the most elaborate and painful. Chaneyliterally threw himself into the soul of Quasi-

modo, the demented bell-ringer of the Pari-sian church. The rubber hump attached to hisback weighed him down with 70 pounds. Infront he wore a breastplate similar to the pads(including shoulder) of football players. A

light leather harness joined breastplate and backplate in such a fashion that Chaneycould not have stood erect even had he tried.Over all this he wore a rubber suit, tinted thecolor of human flesh and with animal hairaflixed. Modeller's putty was worked onto hisface, misshaping it, and a set of false teethover his own gave him a wicked fangedappearance. A matted wig of filthy hair com-pleted his guise, which he donned daily forthe better part of 12 weeks.


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chaney

was champHE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA was,

course, Chaney's crowning achievement.y people walk the world today who wereened out of a year's growth by theyzing sight of the Phantom's face. As

author, Gaston Leroux, described theter, the Phantom was a masterful but

musician whose face was so hideoushe was forced to haunt the innermost

s of the _Paris Opera. To achieve thiscle of horror, Chaney spared himselforture. Witches on the rack in Inquisition

may have confessed to consorting withdevil with the application of less pain

Chaney deliberately subjected himselfr his art.

s the Phantom, Chaney inserted a devicehis nose that caused his nostrils to flare.

pushing up the end of his nose he createdrtling effect. The corners of his mouth

drawn back by small prongs that musthurt like fish-hooks. Celluloid discs in

mouth distorted his cheekbones. Theof his head was built up into an egg-

topped with a scraggle of hair. Deepcircles were blackened under his wild

g eyes. To a whole generation of hor-lovers, Lon Chaney as the Phantom of the

a was the most horrifying thing imagi-

When talking motion pictures were born,ey remade his hit, THE UNHOLY

REE, this time adding vocal tricks to hisrsonation of the elderly lady.

hen, in 1930. Lon Chaney, age 44, died,an era of wonderful horror died withThe One Man Monster Show was gone,

his memory was enshrined by his millionsns, and lives on to this day.

Asked how he felt obout his partin this picture, the victim replied


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^.ffSSl '#)-: _ 3t.'

rapped up in his_ _ ought napping (f,

in THE MUMMY.

%i;-^'

^


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boris karloff-

truck driver to terror king

Ion CHANEY was dead long live theKing But who could ascend to the crown?From the unknown masses came a man whosename today has become one to conjure with:Boris Karloff,

Ex-truck driver Karloff portrayed themonster made by man and betrayed by cir-cumstance, and skyrocketed to stellar roles ofhe type that made Chaney famous.

In THE OLD DARK HOUSE Karloffplayed a heavily bearded brute with a brokennose, a mute monster so different from theFrankenstein monster that the picture's pro-ducers felt it expedient to preface the picturewith a printed prologue assuring audiencesthat the Karloffs of both films were one andhe same.

THE MUMMYwas a Karloffian master-piece wherein Boris the hideous portrayedIm-ho-tep, an Egyptian priest mummified3,000 years ago.

Mexican comedian Cantinflas lakes timefrom circling the

globe in 80 days to playSuer Scientist (U SUPER SABIO).

As If a giant TARANTULA wasn't enoughcontend with, this pretty boy exercises hcharm to bring customers to the bugs-office.


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I've got my eye on you, saysTHE MONSTER MAKER. Thingsseem to be looking up for him.

The scene in which Karloffgradually returns to life was per-haps the most chilling he evercreated, it bearing the same rela-ionship to his horror peak as theunmasking of Chaney the Phan-om.

A fantastic flow of Karloff filmsollowed. THE BLACK CAT,THE RAVEN, THE NIGHTKEY, THE ISLE OF THE DEAD,THE BODY SNATCHERS, THETOWER OF LONDON, THE IN-VISIB.LE RAY, THE WALKINGDEAD, THE DEVIL COM-MANDS, THE GHOUL, THEMAN THEY COULD NOTHANG, THE MANWHOLIVEDAGAIN and countless others.

On at least two occasions Kar-off came back from the dead, oncerawling out of the grave itselfs a ghoul and another time re-ived after electrocution. As thehoul his face was pretty far gonerom disintegrating undergrounds the walking dead man he had

white shock through his hairrom the electrodes, and a lethalook in his eyes.

Karloff's very touch was deathTHE INVISIBLE RAY. At the

nd of the film he began to smokeom internal combustion, andnally caught fire from withinnd was burned alive.

In THE DEVIL COMMANDSe sought communication with theead, and succeeded in establish-g a two-way radio beyond theil of life.

Karloff very convincingly por-ayed an insidious Oriental arch-iminal in THE MASK OF FU

MANCHU.Boris did a Brynner and

utched his head down to the boner his role as the chop-chop artistax-man) in THE TOWER OFONDON.


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Go ap, gol From the itlon picture THE APE, itarrBorfs Karleff.

Karloff'a most recent role in a horror filmas VOODOO ISLAND. Production of hisTRANGLEHOLD has just been completed,d it is expected that he will star in a series

teiefilmed adventures of Frankenstein.

Almost parallelling the career of KarlofF,il his death in 1956, was Bela Lugosi.

fact Lugosi often co-starred with Karioflf.gosi was the more legitimate actor of theo, having played in silent films, Shake-arean plays, and hundreds of perform-es on the stage of DRACULA beforending to international fame like a bat outwell ; the jnovie version of DRACULAned Lugosi into a much sought after hor-

star over night.

bela lugosicomplete with block cope

ond evil eye, logos

become pobllc vompire #1

h, ROUGH hislong and vampiric careergosi became identified in the public mind

the man in the black cape who slept inearth of his native Transylvania by da,v

d roamed the land at night (sometimes inform of a bat) preying on the jugular

s of victims.

But Lugosi created many other horrorduring his quarter century career as a

eyman. He was the diabolic Dr. MirakleMURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, thef-man in ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, thed scientist Roxor intent on world conquest

hisdeath-ravmachinp inCHANDUTHEA'^iriAN.


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hil usually clean-shaven Americanouth is suffering from 5 o'clockhadow. Also, that is not exactly theatest butch he is wearing. So iust read a hair-raising storyl snarlshe leading man of 1 WAS A TEEN-AGE WEREWOLF.

.^^


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From EL HOMBRE Y LA BESTIA (ThaMan and The Beast), apparently akind of poor man's Jekyir & Hyde.

the Hungarian horror-king,on today via tele-revivals and Fri-

the 13th theatrical showings (mostlynight) of such lifetime work as THE

ORPSE VANISHES, DEVIL BAT,HE HUMAN MONSTER, NIGHTONSTER, PHANTOM SHIP, VOO-OO MAN. SCARED TO DEATH and

ns of others. Second to DRACULAbest-remembered role was the WHITEMBIE master.

from silence to

screamaramaThe terror tales of the 20's did not, of

e, have the advantage of such soundsthunderstorms, creaking doors, moans,ns, yowling cats, howling dogs, clump-

footsteps, etc., to induce fright, butdid all right in THE CABINET

WDR. CALIGARI with the silent slinkying3 and goings of the sleep-walkerthe creepy-hand classic, THE CAT

D THE CANARY; in DANTE'S IN-RNO with its horrors of Hell, com-

with brimstone and the Devil withhorns, hooves and tail; FAUST, with

e Devilish goings-on; even TARZANTHE APES (1918), THE RO-

ANCE OF TARZAN (1918) , THE RE-URN OF TARZAN (1920). THE SONTARZAN (1922), TARZAN AND

HE GOLDEN HON (1927), TARZANHE MIGHTY (1929) and TARZANND THE TIGER (1930) had their share

terrifying happenings.The silent SIEGFRIED was loaded

first-class frightenera, from thermous fire-breathing dragon through

gnarled, knobby-kneed squat littleme-king with his cloak of invisibilityd on him the cloak looked good).

VAMPYR and NOSFERATU, twoopean horror films, were consideredof the eeriest ever made.

SEVEN FOOTPRINTS TO SATAN,mystery, had its share of sliding panels,bling ape. Oriental menace, etc.Then the movies found their voices.

from mommy to mummyolson sang, and soon THE BAT

HISPERS, THE CAT CREEPS, THEOST GOES WEST and THE MUM-Y mutters.


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Meet Hairy. Occupation: grav*br. He digs people the most.

Mexican melodrama THEMATCHERS.

l^^-v

.-1


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The original egg-head? Pop-eye theslayer man? Candidate for a toupeeod? It's Peter Lorre in his first Ameri-can role as the mad doctor in MADLOVE.

we monsters have just

begun to fright 'addition to Karloff and Lugosi, in

era of sound the names of Peter LorreMAD LOVE), Claude Rains (THE IN-

SIBLE MAN), John Carradine {THEEARTHLY), Tor Johnson {BRIDE

THE MONSTER), Basil RathboneHE BLACK SLEEP) , Lon Chaney, Jr.

MAN-MADE MONSTER) and Richardson (THE MAZE) take on meaning

importance in the arena of the un-.

ound enhances the scariness, and wehumdingers like : I WALKED WITH

ZOMBIE.THE MYSTERY OF THE WAXUSEUM with champion screamer Fayy, later re-made in 3-D as HOUSE

WAX.Dr. X, about an impossible killer.

strangled people with only one handy dipping the stump of his arm into

at of synthetic flesh and fashioning ationing hand nightly with which toin his victims

THE CAT PEOPLE, with the bestof sound ever for frightening effects.

The breath-taking chase classic of thends of Zaroff and the made hunterhuman beings: THE MOST DAN-ROUS GAME.

The uniquely weird DEAD OFGHT.The horrifying PORTRAIT OF DOR-

GRAY with its inspired musical

THE GOLEM. Kong-like creatureliving clay.

MARK OF THE VAMPIRE, the talk-version of LONDON AFTER MID-

GHT.

THE UNINVITED with its malig-ghost.

ACCUSE with the Men with theken Faces rising from the grave-s of World War I to march on thest world in a sequence which writer

Bradbury called one of the screen'seme achievements of sustained ter-

ten of the most frightening minuteser spent in a movie theater.

And the end is not yet, nor even inInterviewed for FAMOUS MON-

ERS OF FILMLAND, a Famousster declared : We monsters havebegun to fright *

A f i d f DRACULA d b

L


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.

V


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the colorful biography

of father, son, bride,

ghost and all the gang

rankensteiii

story

life begins at 140This year the Frankenstein monster cele-

brates his 140th birthday. What is the secretof his success? How has he managed tosurvi\e all these years? Twice the lifenme of a long-lived man particularly con-siHf I'ing all the abuse that horrified humanity

Pity the plight of this poor monster,brought to life without his foreknowledge orconsent, only to be hounded to death againand again by angry individuals and mobsresenting him as a crime against Nature.

The Frankenstein monster has been alter-nately burned to death frozen boiled alive


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Now don't be frlghtenad, Frankia, when you meet Abbott & Costello, councaU Drocula Lug

Q i d

clubbed, drugged, electrocuted. Onwas presumably blown to bits andaltogether but, no

Humpty Dumptywas not impossible for him to be puttogether again.

In his ability to live on and resist ineven indestructible Superman is aforced to bow before the superior stapower of Frankenstein, who might weentitled to be called Supermonster.

Note: For the remainder of this arthe monster himself will be referredFrankenstein. This is a deliberate cnot done through error, ignorance orunderstanding. The author is wellthat Frankenstein was the

name of theator of the creature, but the world iinterested in Baron Victor Frankensteinthan the history and subsequent adventuof his brain-child. It has been the wriobservation that, over the past quartertury, the name Frankenstein has beidentified in the mind of the average pwith the monster rather than his maker,it is this reference that will be observedthe following pages.

So: FRANKENSTEIN. Where dicome from in the first place? Certainlyfamed portrayer, Boris Karloff, hasn'taround 140 years, nor are motion pictuanywhere near that old. No, Frankenstein


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didn't begin in the movies, he was born along time before that.

Who was his author, then? A man likePoe? A scientist fictionizing an experimenttoo bold for him to actually perform? Anaged author? Let the author's own wordsspeak, and perhaps some clue will be con-tained in them as to the age and identity ofsaid author;

Quote: I have tried, in Frankenstein, topreserve the truth of the basic principles ofhuman nature, while I have not hesitated toexperiment with them. The event on whichmy story hinges was suggested in casual con-versation. It was begun partly as a source ofamusement and partly as a way of exercisingthe imagination. The opinions which natu-rally spring from the character and situationof the hero are by no means to be consideredas my own.

The story itself was begun in the majraticregion where the scene is principally laid, Ispent the summer of 1816 in and aboutGeneva, Switzerland. The season was coldand rainy, and in the evenings my compan-ions and I crowded around a blazing wood

fire and occasionally amused ourselves withsome German stories of ghosts which hap-pened to be handy. These tales excited in usa playful desire to imitate. Two other friendsand myself agreed each to write a storyfounded on some supernatural occurrence.However, the weather suddenly became calmonce again and my friends left me for a jour-ney among the Alps. In the magnificent moan-tains all memory of their ghostly visionsvanished. The following tale is the only onewhich has been completed.

I have a general answer, the authorwrote, to the question so frequently askedme, 'How did I, a young girl, come to think ofand elaborate such a hideous idea?'

What's this? Did you read right? Ayoung girl wrote FRANKENSTEIN? That'sabsolutely right It's incredible but true andone for Ripley that Mary WollstonecraftShelley was only 17 years old when shecreated this world-famous horror classic

In other words, in a case of truth beingstranger than even strangest fiction, the au-thor of FRANKENSTEIN was not only agirl, but a teenager.'.'.'

teping Beaut/ in the parson of Glenn Strange U about to be awakened In ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEETRANKENSTEIN.


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Lon Chaney, Jr.over the monsteracterizationGHOST OF FRASTEIN. There isto the rumor thactor who playeskull was Red S

mary was a teenage monster makerAnd a banned teenager, at that Not then

and there, aa far as is known, but it was re-

ported as late as 1955 that the Union of SouthAfrica had made FRANKENSTEIN a for-bidden book. Anyone owning a copy couldbe fined and sentenced to jail for 5 yearsConsidering that in the U. S. A. you canpick up a second-hand copy of a pocketbookedition of it in most any magazine shop forten cents, it is amazing how a switch in geog-raphy can multiply its value 28,000 times$2,800 is only about $45 rent a month for afurnished cell, and presumably there arethree free meals a day; so if you want to re-lax with an unusually interrating and fa-mous book, get yourself a copy of FRANK-ENSTEIN and head for South Africa. Bettercheck first, though, on whether the moviesare banned too

The first FRANKENSTEIN film was re-leased in America in 1932. Our country wasin a Depression and people were pinched forpennies, particularly there was not much mad money for motion picture entertain-ment. Still, FRANKENSTEIN played toS. R. O. (Standing Room Only) crowds andbroke house records at the bucks office.Instead of on the celluloid itself, sound wasrecorded at that time on kingsize phono-graph records th^t, curiously, played fromthe inside out. The sweetest sound of all,however was the clinking of dollars in the

drowning out the shrieking of terrified pa-trons those whose vocal chords weren'tparalyzed with fright.

Needless to say, FRANKENSTEIN sky-rocketed an obscure ex-truck driver namedWilliam Henry Pratt to fame over night,or over nightmare might be the more nearlyaccurate description. Bill Pratt was betterknown then, as now, by his film name: BorisKarlofT.

They say that George Jessel turned downthe role of THE JAZZ SINGER and AlJolson took it, thus Jolie became the starof the historic Talkie picture that endedthe era of silent movies. Just so Bela Lugosiis reported to have passed up the originalopportunity to portray Frankenstein, al-though in one of the later sequels he did actthe part of the monster.

The book FRANKENSTEIN can be bor-rowed from most any library, and is inter-esting to read to compare with the first movieversion. There are considerable differences.Many sequels, many monsters and many mil-lions of feet of film later, the true story ofFrankenstein is yet to be told.

FRANKENSTEIN was launched on histremonstrous career with ambulances stand-ing by in the front of theaters in the eventanyone inside fainted, and nurses in attend-ance in the lobbies to administer smelling


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B1H|fWiffllMUf

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31/66

A touching scne from the original FRANKEN-STEIN. Boris KariofF, as the granddaddy of 'am all.Is about to place his (ittie fmger on the bride-to-be of his creator. One second later when thatlittle finger made contact with the young lady'sneck, she went clean through the roof to Hiesecond But that was another story.

In the first FRANKENSTEIN film, inmedieval castle of Victor Frankenstein,scientist stood amidst the grotesqueand metal mechanisms of his laboratoryaddressed his former college professorthe following bit of chilling dialogue;

Dr. Waldman : I learned a great dealyou at the University, about the violetthe ultra-violet ray, which you saidthe highest color in the spectrum. Youwrong. Here in this machinery I havebeyond that : 1 have discovered the greatthat first brought life into the world

Oh and your proof? asks the stical Dr. Waldman.

Victor Frankenstein continues: Tonighyou shall have your proof. At first I expemented only with dead animals, and thehuman heart which I kept beating forweeks. But now ... I am going to turnray . . . on that body . . . and endow itlife

And you really believe you can bringto the dead? asks the still doubting doct

That body has never lived declarestor Frankenstein. / created it, with myhands, from bodies I took from the grathe gallows anywhere. Go and seeyourself.

Would you dare go take a look yourselfyou were there, in the castle, instead othe company of friends in a movie theator the comfort of your own home beforeTV screen? Because beneath the white sheon the operating table, of course, wascorpse-that-came-al i ve.

You can't keep a good monster down,it was not long before Boris Karloffback in harness, this time demanding a mIn THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEINMary Wollstonecraft Shelley herself waspicted at the beginning of the picture,vealing to her friends the terrible truththe monster was not killed in the burningbut still lives. The picture then fadedthe conclusion of the original, the peasantseen lingering around the base of the sming castle which is believed to be themation spot of Dr. Frankenstein's aw

creation.The father of the little girl drowned

the monster enters the smouldering wrecage for the grim satisfaction of seeingcharred skeleton of the dead creature,comes face to face with Frankensteinhorribly burned, but alive Frankensteinagely drowns the peasant in a well in the bament, then clambers out of the ruinsstumbles away.


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Bla Lugosi disgulsas all bur hit distinctivenose in playing the part of the world'* fav-orlto monster In FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THEWOLF MAN.

frankenstein

writhes againVictor Frankenstein, convalescing from

from his fight with the monster and fall fromthe top of his castle onto one of the vanes ofa windmill, at last recovers. He is visited bya sinister Dr. Pretorious, the experimenterfrom whom he first learned the basic ele-ments of the artificial creation of life.

Pretorious wants Dr.Frankenstein to aid

him in further investigations of his own intothe mysteries of life.

Victor Frankenstein, still awed by hisown success in instilling life in a dead form,accompanies Pretorious, who reveals to hima sight of super-science: his astoundingwork of test-tube life. Experiment of tinyliving human beings created from cultureFantastic figurines, imprisoned alive in smallglass bottles All heed to his promise toElizabeth, his wife, is swept away as Dr.Frankenstein is again transformed into azealot, fanatic to further a new project: thecreating of a mate for the monster

The bloodless-faced Frankenstein is moremonstrous than ever now, the hair scorchedon his misshapen skull through which stripsof sewn silver show, one arm seared by theangry flames. Bloodhounds track down thepathetic creature, and he is bound to a pole,carted to the village and securely imprisonedin jail. Securely? So the townspeople mis-takenly believe. With his inhuman strength,seven foot five Frankenstein breaks hisbonds and escapes, killing several people inthe process.

The monster makes for the mountains andstumbles upon a hermit's hut The hermitis blind and plays a violin. Strains of musicattract Frankenstein to the old man's hearth.Since the blind man cannot see the aspectsof his visitor which invariably horrify hu-manity, he accepts the monster as a manwho cannot speak. Frankenstein at last hasa friend and is overcome by signs of kind-ness. He learns to understand and speaka few words, and there is every evidencethat he might lead a halfway normal life ifundiscovered and left alone,

Unfortunately, several months later Frank-enstein is seen by hunters in the wood andh t Ag i h f d fli h He

takes refuge in a cemetery. He feels he be-longs with the dead, there is nothing buthatred and hopelessness for him among theliving.

The same night Frankenstein hides inthe graveyard, Dr. Pretorious and two assist-ants steal into the burial ground vault tosecure a female skeleton on which to fashionthe body of a mate for the missing monster.There Pretorious meets Victor Franken-stein's creation, who carries on a halting con-versation with the doctor. The monster is

delighted to learn that a companion is to bemade for him.

But Victor Frankenstein begins to regrethis association with Pretorious and now at-tempts to back out of the second experiment.To force him to cooperate, the monster kid-naps Dr. Frankenstein's wife.

The picture is at its peak.In a reduplication of the original sensa-

tional laboratory sequence, the body of thesynthetic woman is raised to the top of thetower at the height of a raging storm, whilethe great life-making ray machinery crackleselectrically, creating a cannon-loud, awe-inspiring spectacle.

Th g wrapped form i lowered ali e


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This is the TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN.sn't h a putty sight? A real claylay boyi


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frankensteingoes to ruin

It is a creature from death's domain,towering above the daring scientists whohave brought it back to life. Hardly lessgrotesque than the Frankenstein Monster it-self is this female creation destined to beMrs. Frankenstein Monster. Seven feet tallshe stands, a scarred neck showing whereher head has been sewed to her body, stati-cally charged hair standing up from her skull,streaks of platinum waving up from eachtemple.

But when the new-born bride looks uponthe unhuman face of her intended husband,the sight of him is too much for her. Evenshe shrieks and shrinks from Frankenstein.

The monster decides self-destruction is theonly answer for hapless creatures such as heand his female counterpart, and throws theswitch that blows them both to KingdomCome

No, sayi Dracula to Glenn Strange as the monp itsght to the finish between the ant-armoredghtmares and the armored tanks, machine-

uns, cyanide bombs, etc., that finally over-ome the almost invulnerable ants.

From giant ants to a giant TARANTULAas a step up in size. This thriller was de-

eloped from a half hour telefilm featuredn Science Fiction Theater called No Foodr Thought. After a very technically effec-

ve job of wreaking havoc on the country-de, the giant tarantula was finally fried byn aerial flame-bomb.

THE BLACK SCORPION, again kingsize,nally met his death south of the border afterving a portion of the Mexican populace a

ad time.Giant grasshoppers, multiplying likeickets, swarmed like locusts over Chicago

THE BEGINNING OF THE END.THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED

THE WORLD was a kind of thing-sizedmphibious caterpillar or super sea-freakat wormed its way out of a snail's shell

raise audiences' hackles and induce thatreepy-crawly feeling in people as it crawledong canals and over sides of ships. Con-dering it spawned 3000 eggs when givingrth to offspring, it qualified as one of the

most killworthy creatures of all time, for babies upon hatching iiad voracious

ppetites. The Monster itself was designedh h d h G

White Whale in the Ray Bradbury version ofHerman Melville's MOBY DICK.

On a remote Pacific island where theradio-active after-effects of atomic fallout

changed a pair of crabs into colossal carni-vores, said crabs develop a taste for man-meat cocktails in ATTACK OF THE CRABMONSTERS. When the crusty big crusta-ceans devour a human being they absorb hisor her memories, vocal intonations, etc.Meanly, the hero and heroine refuse to addtheir avoirdupois to the Cause and be in-gested by the King Kongs of Crabdom, being

b b d i h th


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i'^^^^^ ROBOT MONSTER, the film so horrible that it wnot released, it escaped.

monstersgo ape

On another, not-so-Pacific isle, the son o

H deceased ehieftan is put to death for gettingtoo friendly with the non-natives, namelya group of American Samaritans who havevoluntarily come to help with medication themany innocent islanders suffering fromradiation burns from atom bomb tests.is difficult not to give a wooden performanceif you return from the grave as a living treetrunk, but in this case the tree-man's biteis worse than his bark.

From your mythology you probably remember the story of Sinbad the sailor andhis encouter with the roc, a kind of eagleabout as big as an express train. In THEGIANT CLAW it's roc-roc-roe around theclock as our nation's capitol and the Wash-ington monument are menaced by a space-bird big as a battleship. This titanic turkeyfrom across space flaps its wings all overthe place, failing to register on radarscopesand refusing to be phased by bullets or bombsbecause it is composed of contra-terreneor anti-matter, until Jeff (Have Test Tube,Will Travel Light- Years) Morrow, un-daunted from his tribulations in THISISLAND EARTH and KRONOS, defeats thebird from another universe.

THIS ISLAND EARTH itself sported oneof the screen's all-time top terror creations,an 8 foot monster, half human, half insect in_ technicolor. A product of the advancescience of the planet Metaluna, this arti-ficially bred bug-man had a misshapen head5 times normal size, bulging brain completelyexposed. Craterlike eyes big as binoculars.Five tiers of interlocking mouths, one doingdouble duty as a breathing apparatus. Allfacial muscles macaroni-like, snaking aboutthe throat and cheeks. Arms ankle-length andending in wicked lobster-like pincers. Ashell like an armadillo's covering the spine.Shoulders with muscles like Mr. America's.Months to make. Cost (in case you'd like tosurprise your beast friend with one as apresent on his next birthday) : $25,000.

There is an old saying that a wart to thewise is sufficient, but apparently operatingon the theory that two warts are more re-pulsive than one, the studio make-up artistswent hogwild (wart-hog, that is) in makingTHE MOLE PEOPLE look like their faceswere molded from licorice tapiqca. Other-wise they looked a good deal lite distantcousins of the Island Earth mutant.

The return of Robby the Robot fn THE INVISIBLE BOY


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Greatest of them all, the 8thder of the woHd : KINGreal Beauty ond the Beast

1 KONG. A .,|. iiVI foiry tale -^ IM\ :


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The Mutant from Metaluna In themighty space spectacle THIS ISLANDEARTH.

when yougotta grow

yougotta grow

For contrast, in the subterranean citylost Sumerians, the coal-black molemoved among- upper-class albinos, the pastfaced populace tyrannically subjugatingtheir mushroom-devouring slaves.

In Hollywood, the birthplace of the Azing Stupendous COLOSSAL itonly a matter of time until a film was mabout an AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN.average height at the beginning ofpicture, the victim of a freak accident durithe detonation of the first plutonium bohad grown 80 feet tall by the final reel.a heroic effort to save another man'sit at first appeared that Col. Glen Mannin(who was to become the Colossal Man)had lost his own : the unprecedented bseared every inch of skin from his boThe scene where he was charred beforecamera's eye by the atomic explosion wahair raiser, and effectively reprised twduring the unfoldment of the film.

Burned bald, and from head to toe,hydrated and at death's door. Col. Manninwas given no chance to survive the nighBut the next morning an epidermic miraclehis skin had grown back without scarsue, and his metabolism was nearly normaInstead of a half-cremated corpse hepeared to be a convalescent on the waycomplete recovery The baffled doctors coonly conclude that the plutonium rayssome marvelous unknown powers to efferecuperation.

The trouble set in when Manning not orecuperated but started to grow. Atrate of 8 to 10 feet a day. A Dr. Linstromexplained the phenomenon to Manning'sfiancee: The body is like a factory, continually producing new cells to replace the oldcells, damaged cells, or destroyed cells. Thappens in all the different parts of the boBone cells grow new bone cells, skin cgrow new skin cells and so on Co-doctorCoulter continued with explanation: Itthis delicately balanced process of new creplacing dying cells that is causinggrowth problem. The process is out ofance. For some unknown reason, new care growing at an accelerated rate

Now of course at this point one diminutive David in the person of a good modeTechnical Advisor could have stepped in aif listened to, stopped the giant Goliath de


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Out of on ocaanorium crawls theCreature from the Black Lagoon,roaring defiance at his captors inthis scene from REVENGE OF THECREATURE.

owcreepy

can you get?He could have fractured the giant concept

ether: the Colossus couldn't possibly

ort his own weight; he'd have to spendhis time stuffing his stomach with fuelears wouldn't function, he couldn't hear

hing because of the thickening of his

mbranes in the eary canal ; etc.ault finder Fun spoiler Hey, Mr. Co-

Man, stomp on that Technical Advisor,a nogoodnik square from northeast of

here. Mash him down into jello pie be-he ruins our nightmares. Next thing,say there isn't any Santa Glaus

the Creeping Unknown on himlTHE CREEPING UNKOWNwhat was

How could it be stopped; Bullets couldn'tit, fire wouldn't halt it. It came from in-

anetary space, threatening to wipe allg things from the face of the earth.or, horror and panic followed in theke of its discovery. It all began when threen rocketed into the unknown, and only onee back.

The sole survivor is queried by his cohortso sponsored the space flight, but he can

no light on the mystery of what be-me of his companions. Another thing; he

more than subtly altered; his wife es-ally recognizes a difference in him,

alien streak that strikes at her femininetion and rings alarm bells. For some-ere along his journey into the region of

cosmic rays, he has met with a strangeerience that not only has caused thely vanishment of his companions but hasun to change him physically and men-

Now, though he still retains the out-rd form of a human being, he is neither

man, nor yet beast, nor fish nor fowl, butthing the like of which the world haser known before.Some invisible entity, some life force lurk-

in space, has penetrated the hermeticallyed metal skin of the rocket and taken

sterpossession

ofthe survivor's body.

feeds on the human blood stream andily t issues as well as plant life, trans-

Before the Unknown has been done in, the

former man is changed into a crawling hor-ror, a giant blob of oozing gelatine resem-bling a great jellyfish. Electrocution is theend.

Ail In The MindOne of the weirdest monsters of them all

was the thoughtbeast that came out of thebrain (plus the paint brushes of a number ofDisney artists) of Dr. Morbius. This scien-tist, as you may recall, dwelt on the distantFORBIDDEN PLANET named Altair-4 farbeyond our own solar system's outermost

Pluto. There, a million years after all theoriginal inhabitants of the world were dead,a monster sprang to life from the mind ofDr. Morbius. Great machines, still function-ing beneath the surface of the planet, reachedbeneath the surface of the scientist's mindand caused his wildest nightmare to take ona semi-solid form that could thoroughlyfrighten any movie-goer. The climax of thespectacular multimillion dollar scientifilmcame when the evil brain-beast was attackedby every advanced weapon at the commandof a crew of spacemen. The mighty monster

which looked like a combination of ape,bull and snake roared and hissed, dancedand howled in rage and defiance and pain,until its creator died and the product of histortured brain dissolved.THEY'RE COMING FROM INSIDE-OUTER SPACE

Monsters from All Over are due this year,a VAMPIRE FROM SPACE, a FIENDWITHOUT A FACE, several robots, aGIANT WOMAN, two VOLCANO MON-STERS, a PROJECTED MAN, an it thatfalls from THE FLAME BARRIER, a NO-MOGLOD, the SLIME PEOPLE, a new mum-my (the old one retired on an old age pensionafter 3 000 years) TEENAGE WITCH


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1

1

V

1

i

i

1

11 j1

^

I


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husband and wife teambuild the best beasts in town

The stove was opened and the hostessremoved a baked head.

Nobody batted an eyelash.

Of course maybe that was because noneof them had eyelashes, although at least oneof the guests at the party had three eyes.

This incident, which would unnerve mostpeople but was taken for granted by thosepresent, happened at Hollywood's most un-usual Halloween Party. I-ast October, at the

hide-away home of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Blais-dell, a weird assortment of guests was pres-

ent and celebrating the occasion.THE SHE-CREATURE was escorted by

the three-eyed mutant from THE DAY THEWORLD ENDED, THE CAT-GIRL camewith THE FANTASTIC PUPPET PEOPLE,and the Venusian from IT CONQUEREDTHE WORLD would have been there but hecouldn't squeeze his great bulk through thefront door.


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First step in creof a monster:sketch, one ofcareful drawingsprecede the actuconstruction.

millionaire

monsters

J. HESE beasts, monsters aistars of a series of horror films fealLIFE majiazitic, stars wortji

fre:itcd by Jlaxbrothei's, but stars wicn scars, popping eyes,snapgle- teeth, furry faces . . .

One thinfc in common: money map:nets all,these monsters

And all assembled on this occasion to hon-or their creator, Paul Blaisdell.

Step 2: Formup out of clay,

d with


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3: Ticklish operation. Plaster mold is corefullyd apart.

4: Rubber compound then cast in piaster molds,ducing monster brain.

they ranout of space

. -..t there is the visual concept ofthe monster itself. Blaisdell is a top-''''

' ive been

of Aniericlany and Sweden. He

inary sketches inthen a variety of

intinj^s showing eachfront view, back, sirie, full face. etc.

After one of his many employershas okayed the art work, the hardwork begins.


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Steps 2 through 4 are now repeated to constructmonster's face and lower part of heod.

Hands are constructed in much the same manner asthe head story called for eyes to be built on thehands tool

to one headaclci .

First a head or body formmolded out of clay.

Then a plaster mold is made oclay form.

From the plaster mold comerubber mold.

Plastic eyes and teeth are adAnd like a living statue,

thing is painted a brilliantin the case of the giant cucumcreature from Venus ( ITQUERED THE EARTH) orgreen and seaweed brown in theof THE SHE-CREATURE.

Blaisdell's priceless secretsmonster-making are carefullguarded in his Topanga canyontreat, where visitors to his labtory-like workshop must firsta high aerial suspension bridge

a raging river. {He loses moretors that way.)Asked what the single most c

substance of his specialty is,exclusive interview for FAMMONSTERS OF FILLAND Famous Monster-Maker Bdell answered without hesitation Midnight oil I burn it by the bakeeping creatures rolling off thesembly line 'round the clock.ing at his stock of shock mfangs, talons, tails, horns, etc., iteasy to believe he was tellingtruth.

Hollywood Producers requiricreatures for I WAS A FRACTURFRANKENSTEIN or THESER FROM OUTER SPACEthat's the way the soda pops)WAS A PREHISTORIC DRIPthat's the way the water falls),dial IT - 1313, and if a Monanswei-3. don't hang up, he'll callBoss.to the phone for you right a


50/66Rubber sub-assemblies are next carefully joined together and plastic eyes inserted. Herewe have one of the Martians for American-International's INVASION OF THE SAUCER-MEN.


51/66

screaming

story

of thehi-fi

life of

horror

heroines

HelpFor ages children have asked parents,

school students have asked teachers, adeep thinkei-s have asked themselves, tsame puzzling question: Which came firsthe chicken or the egg?

And ever since the first monster moviesent shudders up and down spines like Ventian blinds, theater patrons have asked themselves a similar question which televiewersare now taking up. Movie-goers and teevee-stay-at-homers are joining forces to ponder: Which cornea first, beauty or the beast?For wherever Beauty walks, the Beastsure to shamble.


52/66


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hapleu harolns is really getting carried away.Hie world's most fomous monster. In FRANKEN-

IN MEETS THE WOLFMAN.

horror galsare gone

withoutwind . .

The most valuable asset of a horror movieis her lungs. Some contracts call for a

n-smoking clause during her enactment ofrole in a monster film, so that costly de-

will not ensue should she develop augh or sore throat.A common cold can be dangerous or even

to a horror queen, for without heream half the battle is lost.Since dubbing was invented, some un-own actresses who never receive billingve made a substantial living out of scream-

: they earn their daily bread and butteryelling their heads off for beauties who

ve looks and acting ability but not ascreech.

A hi-fi holler is worth top dollar in horrorvies.Scary-o-phonic sound was first heard in

ING KONG when the heroine was putough her classic paces. Asked to makees before a camera, as though she were

oking higher and higher and higher untilddenly she saw a monster several stories

Fay Wray nobly gave out with a seriesshrieks so piercing that some people's

rdrums almost popped. It was the shockard 'rouijd the world.

If there's one thing monsters love, it'saking beautiful girls scream. They don'ten have to touch them, j ust let themmpse their ugly kissers as long as they gete big yell out of them before they go limp,

monster's night has been worth living.In fact a monster, whose best working

urs are generally after midnight, will evenowl by day if he has good reason to be-ve he may run across a beauty who'll dor duty by monsterdom and open up herouth and make with her vocal chords.

HE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Can you blame hersband for leaving her at the oltar of '


54/66

c^.

The UNKNOWN TERROR sneaking up behind the beautiful girl Is a fugitive from a soapsud opeHis friends call him the Wizard of Ooze.

beautiesand beasts

take a bow . .Girls who fail into a dead faint the mo-ment they lay eyes on a porilla, a giant spider,an elephant-sized ant, an ant-sized elephant,a teenage tarantula, a crawling: hand, a float-ing head, an invisible man, a saucerman, amole man, a lagoon creature, a monolithmonster or Liberace rob the audience of theiranticipated scream,

A monster without a girl to menace wouldbe like a racketless game of tennis, likeStanley without Livingston, Marco without

Polo, the Smith Bros, without their coughdrops, Valentine's Day wnthout Cupid, TVwithout commercials, movies without pop-


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Watch your step, DR.CYCLOPS, that's ourlittle Nell that you'reabout to turn intol-e-l-l-o.

fromsputniks

o shriek- kicksAnd, by the same token, Beauty without

Beast would be like bread without yeast,ol without vacation, rock without roll,

LP record with a 78 rpm player, andwithout cola.

So, experts say, yellavision is here to stayhi-cry heroines will keep heroes busy

ning to their rescue long after the firstket has reached Mars. And if there are

monsters on Mars, we may depend uponhat that gi-eat Martian movie beauty queen,a]ino Mahnro will scream her throat as

a? the Mai tian sands

Fredric March won anAcademy Award forthts role: DR. JEKYLLAND MR. HYDE. Thisshaggy dawg is eitherabout to whispersweet nothings Intohis girlfriend's ear ortake a nibble out ofit. In any event, ob owed to Ph/l i Frk wh


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WHOIS HE'Sttiis monster is reallyone of tiollywood's bestknown actors

HIS TRUE IDENTITY IS REVEALEDIN THE HILARIOUS ARTICLE THE SCREAM TEST ON PAGE 5


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wfho was the

FRANKENSTEIN?

FRIGHTENING

HORROR MOVIEEVER MADE?

all in this issue of

FAMOUS MONSTERS

Documents

Famous Monsters of Filmland 001 1958 Warren Publishing